Wick Registrars On The Move

24th December 2010

Noel Donaldson reports -

THE Wick registrars office where births, deaths and marriages have been recorded, for several decades, is on the move...back to its original home in the Market Square.
The transfer was revealed at this month's meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council, by area manager, David Sutherland after councillors had heard a letter from registrar, Margaret Woods, and her assistant, Jennifer Gunn. They expressed concern about the implications of the move from the town hall, round the corner to Highland Council's service point, enabling them to take on other general duties when not engaged in their registry responsibilities, which, said the ward manager, tended to be "sporadic".

The office move stemmed from a Highland Council initiative, aimed at ensuring that all its buildings are "user compliant". Mr Sutherland said that moving the registry office (formerly the town clerk's base when Wick had a town council) would free up the accommodation for a lift to be installed to achieve greater access to the council chamber on the first floor.

Mr Sutherland said that the implications for the registry staff had been addressed, along with future storage of 'bdms' records which would be accommodated at Wick library.
Community council chair, Coreen Campbell, commented: " I think all the concerns have been resolved."

Note
Highland Council agreed to a range of changes affecting service points and registration offices in Highland at their meeting in Inverness on 16 December 2010. Councillors agreed to the following actions -

Members are asked to:-

(1) note the work underway to implement the payment strategy across the
Council by 1 April 2011 as outlined in Section 2;
(2) approve the closure of the HQ Cash Office from 1 April 2011 as outlined in
Section 2;
(3) approve the three new partnerships with libraries as outlined in Section 4
in Brora, Golspie and Lochcarron;
(4) approve the five new partnerships with Northern Constabulary as outlined
in Section 4 in Lairg, Muir of Ord, Bettyhill, Broadford and Gairloch;
(5) agree that further work is undertaken in conjunction with the Asset
Management Project and in consultation with Local Members and partners
to assess the potential for shared service community hubs in Dornoch,
Tain, Invergordon, Grantown, Kingussie and Dingwall;
(6) approve the move to a standard operating model as outlined in Section 5
and Appendix A from 1 April 2011;
(7) approve withdrawal of Service Point provision at Drumnadrochit, Durness,
Dunvegan and Acharacle as outlined in Section 5;
(8) agree that the future of Service Points at Ardersier and Helmsdale is
decided following the outcome of the library review as outlined in Section
5;
(9) approve the merger of Wick, Thurso, Portree, Dingwall and Fort William
Registration and Service Point offices into combined Customer Services
offices as outlined in Section 6;
(10)approve the establishment of a mobile service point relief staffing model
as outlined in Section 7; and
(11)note the consultation underway with staff and Trade Unions as outlined
in Section 8.

The full details can be found in Item 16C at -
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/committees/thehighlandcouncil/2010-12-15-hc-min.htm